A fine Italian giltwood console, probably Lombard early 19th century

with a black marble top above a moulded laurel frieze, above four lion monopodiae joined at the heads by  acanthus leaf-scroll motif joined by a palmette, the feet joined by a rais-de-coeur stretcher above an x-shaped base

Comparative Literature:
Enrico Colle, Il Mobile Impero in Italia, Milano, 1998.
Clelia Alberici, Il Mobile Lombardo, 1969, 254.

The fine workmanship of these lion monopodia supports à l’antique would suggest that it was probably made in Lombardy as several pieces in the Royal Palace of Milan would suggest. This model is similar to designs by Charles Percier and Pierre-Honoré-Léonard Fontaine, and subsequently carved by Jacob in the Assyrian manner, demonstrates the masculine lines of the Empire style. The curved acanthus motif terminating in palmettes and monopodiae encased within the frieze, however, illustrate the Italian interpretation of this style brought along with Eugène de Beauharnais as Viceroy of Italy. The treatment of the lion also resembles that of the designer Domenico Moglia (1782-1867) as seen in his Collezione di soggetti ornamentali ed architettonici inventati e disegnati da Domenico Moglia, Milano, 1837 (Il Mobile Lombardo, 254).